The competitive issues in the EAEU space are unsolvable and new risks may occur for Armenian producers, Dr. Ashot Yeghiazaryan, economist, told Lragir.am, commenting on recent concerns raised by economic operators.

The State Committee for Protection of Economic Competition has announced that two Armenian companies have recently had problems on the Russian market.

Ashot Yeghiazaryan says the Russian market has never been distinguished for a competitive market. “It has its own rules, this economy has its idiosyncrasies anchored in the large mining and raw material corporations, including those with state participation. Certainly, the Armenian participants which have no opportunity to coalesce with government agencies, and it is no secret that this is crucial to doing business in Russia, will certainly appear in a similar situation,” the economist says.

According to him, if a common economic space is created, the bigger entities must try to gain the entire economic field. “In this sense, not only Armenia does not have a chance to strengthen its market in Russia but also risks occur to Armenia as well where the Russian players will strengthen their foothold in the Armenian market. We should wait for such phenomena,” the economist thinks.

He notes that Armenia is talking about fighting monopolies, corruption and shadow but it is known that one cannot fight such phenomena while being part of the EAEU.

“When one speaks about this, one must answer a question – where is less corruption and shadow, where is free competition, favorable climate for business. Everyone will say in Europe, the United States, other developed countries. Has Russia every been distinguished for these things? No, it has been distinguished for the opposite. This market has had corruption, shady deals and so on. So here is a question – why did you choose this territory. In other words, these problems are unsolvable in this territory,” the economist added.